RMK profit increased 29% in a year 02.02

According to preliminary data, RMK (State
Forest Management Centre) earned a profit of EUR 40.7 million on a turnover of EUR 163.5 million in
2014. Compared to the previous year, the turnover increased by 5.6% and the profit by 29.3%.

According
to Aigar Kallas, Chairman of the Management Board of RMK, the increase
was mainly due to the improved quality of timber. “The sold quantity of
timber remained the same as last year; however, the proportion of logs
increased to 45%. In 2013, the proportion
of logs accounted for 40% of RMK’s total sales,” Kallas said. “The
eventual yield of logs was increased due to the more skilled execution
of the harvesting process as well as the improved capability of the
timber industry to process increasingly thinner timber
on site.

In
total, RMK sold 3.2 million cubic metres of timber for EUR
151 million in 2014, plus 140,000 cubic metres of wood chips. Pulpwood
accounted for 36%, firewood 15%, and wood chips for 4% of the total
sales volume of RMK. In 2013, RMK’s sales turnover was EUR 155 million
and profit EUR 31.5 million.

In
2014, RMK’s recreational and protected areas were visited 1.9
million times. Within the year, 533 kilometres of study and hiking
trails were established and reconditioned. “Moving around in nature
becomes more and more popular each year, with RMK’s recreational
infrastructure bringing an ever increasing number of people
into the forest,” said Aigar Kallas. Over the last few years RMK has
developed, above all, two branches of the long hiking trail running
across Estonia, which connect already existing trails and recreation
objects to each other. Last year, almost
70,000 people used the 375 km long Oandu-Ikla and 628 km long Aegviidu-Ärijärve branches of the hiking trail for hiking.

EUR 1.8 million was spent on nature conservation works on state land in
2014. This mainly involved the establishment of the infrastructure,
necessary for the restoration of swamps and maintenance of meadows. “For
example, we completed the Kloostri bridge-regulator,
necessary for the maintenance of the Kasari flood meadow - Northern
Europe’s largest - and prolonging the flood period,” Kallas said. “A
project that had lasted for a year-and-a-half also came to an end, as a
result of which we mapped and placed under protection
the movement corridor of flying squirrels in their main habitat in
Alutaguse forests.”

The volumes of silviculture works in 2014 remained on the same level as
last year. A total of 18.5 million trees were added to the state forest,
10.8 million of which were pines, 6.6 million spruces and 1.1 million
birches. Regeneration cutting was done on
9512 hectares, accounting for 1% of the total area of Estonia’s state
forest land under the care of RMK. Two-thirds of the clear cut areas
were regenerated by planting or sowing and the natural regrowth method
was selected for one-third. Forest renewal was
maintained on 23,048 hectares, cleaning of young growth to improve their
habitat conditions was done on 19,372 hectares and thinning in
middle-aged forests was done on 9915 hectares.

RMK
is the keeper, protector and manager of the forest and other
natural biotic communities belonging to the Republic of Estonia. RMK
earns a profit for the state through forest management, growing
reforestation material, and organising forest and nature conservation
works. In addition, RMK establishes opportunities for
nature walking in recreational and protected areas and shapes nature
awareness. RMK consists of the Sagadi Forest Centre, the Elistvere
Animal Park, the Tartu Tree Nursery, 70% of the Estonian-Finnish joint
company AS Eesti Metsataim and the Põlula Fish Farm.
More than 700 people work for RMK.